This is like a recurring dream, with the anxiety and all.
Again, the Rangers came home in the playoffs to see their offense run dry, the effort of Henrik Lundqvist go for naught, and they hold on to hope — warranted or not — as the season inches closer to another hockey-less spring in New York.
It was a 3-1 loss to the Canadiens on Sunday night at the Garden in Game 3 of their first-round series, now putting them down 2-1 in this best-of-seven contest.
If wondering why the Garden was so quiet and then restless, maybe it’s because this was the Rangers’ sixth consecutive playoff loss at home going back to Game 2 of the 2015 conference final, having now been outscored in those contests by a cumulative total of 21-4. It was also a continuation of their bad feelings on Broadway that persisted for the final two months of this regular season, and it’s hard to think an effort like this inspires any sort of confidence going into Game 4 here on Tuesday night.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that this group of players, they want to do well, they want to do well in front of their fans,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “Right now, we’re fighting it, without a doubt. That should be evident.”
The Rangers generated almost no pressure on Montreal goalie Carey Price, with nobody able to carry the puck in the zone with any consistency. Forget actually getting to the front of the net where something good might happen. After generating just six shots in each of the first two periods, Vigneault tried to juggle his lines — but when so many players were off their games, it hardly mattered.
“At this time right now, our best line is our fourth line,” Vigneault said, referring to the Tanner Glass-Oscar Lindberg-Jesper Fast combination that was broken up to start the third, with Mika Zibanejad continuing his extremely hesitant play and being demoted. “Our top players need to find their game, and they obviously don’t have it right now.”
There was justifiable frustration from J.T. Miller in the locker room after the game when he was asked about his play that turned the score — not the game — in favor of Montreal. Miller was in to take an offensive-zone draw at 16:05 of the second period in a scoreless game and was called for a faceoff violation when he played the puck with his hand.
On the ensuing power play, the Canadiens got a goal from Artturi Lehkonen off a perfectly executed set play and took a 1-0 lead.
“I played it with my hand,” was all Miller wanted to say about it, obviously mad at himself and rightfully not in the mood to try to explain away such a miscue.
Things were compounded at 4:07 of the third when Mats Zuccarello took a four-minute high-sticking penalty in front of the Montreal net when he was in a post-whistle scrum and, either by his own volition or being pushed by those around him, he cross-checked Andrei Markov in the chin.
Montreal defenseman Shea Weber was the one to convert on that power play, giving the Canadiens a commanding 2-0 lead.
“We take two offensive-zone penalties, 200 feet from our net,” Vigneault said, “and they score.”
The Rangers can hardly take solace that it was scoreless at five-on-five to that point, as Lundqvist was the only reason they were not already buried, stopping all 10 shots he faced in faced in the first and 11-of-12 in the second. And he hardly had a chance when Alexander Radulov got his second of the series on a jaw-dropping one-handed effort with just under five minutes remaining to make it 3-0.
Brady Skjei got one with Lundqvist on the bench for the extra attacker with 2:56 remaining to make it 3-1, but by then, it hardly mattered. The Rangers have to change the narrative, or there will soon be a reminder that the recurring dream is actually a nightmare.
“We have to give more at home in the playoffs, or we aren’t going to win,” Lundqvist said. “We need more. It’s as simple as that.”